- 5 min readhardware
What a BLE tag's battery actually lasts
The datasheet says five years. The tag on the excavator went dark in fourteen months. Neither number is a lie — they're answers to different questions. Here's what actually drains a coin cell in the field, and why tags die all at once instead of slowly.
Read → - 6 min readfield
Why off-highway equipment is its own IoT problem
A connected forklift is a known problem. A haul truck on a mine bench, an excavator on a remote easement, or a tractor halfway across a section — those are different problems wearing the same name.
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Solar and battery sizing for remote sites: the math nobody does
Two panels and a deep-cycle battery is not a power system. It's a power system that works in May. Here's how we actually size off-grid IoT installs so they survive February.
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Site surveys: the things you measure that aren't on the spec sheet
A spec sheet tells you what the hardware can do. A site survey tells you whether it will. Two hours on a roof saves a six-week return-trip story.
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Cellular backhaul, the unglamorous part of IoT
Everyone wants to talk about sensors and dashboards. The thing that decides whether your deployment works is the cellular link, and almost nobody designs it carefully enough.
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LoRaWAN in the wild: notes from a few real deployments
Datasheets talk about 10-mile range and decade-long battery life. Fish farms, remote sites, and metal-heavy yards tell a different story. What we actually see in the field.
Read → - 2 min readfield
What BLE tracking in a heavy-equipment yard actually looks like
A field note from a gateway install. Rust, forklifts, unexpected RF geometry, and what a 12km datasheet range means in a building made of steel.
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